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78 lines
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<title>Blue Letter Bible: Text Commentaries</title>
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PriorBook = 'Lamentations';
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Title = 'The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel';
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SubTitle3 = 'CHAPTER 36';
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<p id="Chapter36" align="center">Commentary by A. R. FAUSSET<br>CHAPTER 36
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<p id="Eze36_1"><a onclick="return mV('Eze',36,'1-38');">Eze 36:1-38</a>. ISRAEL AVENGED OF HER FOES, AND RESTORED, FIRST TO INWARD HOLINESS, THEN TO OUTWARD PROSPERITY.
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<p>The distinction between Israel and the heathen (as Edom) is: Israel has a covenant relation to God ensuring restoration after chastisement, so that the heathen's hope of getting possession of the elect people's inheritance must fail, and they themselves be made desolate (<a onclick="return mV('Eze',36,'1-15');">Eze 36:1-15</a>). The reason for the chastisement of Israel was Israel's sin and profanation of God's name (<a onclick="return mV('Eze',36,'16-21');">Eze 36:16-21</a>). God has good in store for Israel, for His own name's sake, to revive His people; first, by a spiritual renewal of their hearts, and, next, by an external restoration to prosperity (<a onclick="return mV('Eze',36,'22-33');">Eze 36:22-33</a>). The result is that the heathen shall be impressed with the power and goodness of God manifested so palpably towards the restored people (<a onclick="return mV('Eze',36,'34-38');">Eze 36:34-38</a>).
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<p><b>1, 2. mountains of Israel</b>—in contrast to "<i>Mount</i> Seir" of the previous prophecy. They are here personified; Israel's elevation is moral, not merely physical, as Edom's. Her hills are "the everlasting hills" of Jacob's prophecy (<a onclick="return mV('Gen',49,26);">Gen 49:26</a>). "The enemy" (Edom, the singled-out representative of all God's foes), with a shout of exultation, "Aha!" had claimed, as the nearest kinsman of Israel (the brother of their father Esau), his vacated inheritance; as much as to say, the so-called "everlasting" inheritance of Israel and of the "hills," which typified the unmoved perpetuity of it (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',125,1,2);">Psa 125:1-2</a>, has come to an end, in spite of the promise of God, and has become "ours" (compare <a onclick="return mV('Deu',32,13);">Deu 32:13</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Deu',33,15);">33:15</a>).
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<p id="Eze36_3"><b>3.</b> Literally, "Because, even because."
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<br><br><b>swallowed you up</b>—literally, "panted after" you, as a beast after its prey; implying the greedy cupidity of Edom as to Israel's inheritance (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',56,1,2);">Psa 56:1-2</a>,).
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<br><br><b>lips of talkers</b>—literally, "lips of <i>the tongue,</i>" that is, of the slanderer, the man of tongue. Edom slandered Israel because of the connection of the latter with Jehovah, as though He were unable to save them. <a onclick="return mV('Deu',28,37);">Deu 28:37</a>, and <a onclick="return mV('Jer',24,9);">Jer 24:9</a> had foretold Israel's reproach among the heathen (<a onclick="return mV('Dan',9,16);">Dan 9:16</a>).
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<p id="Eze36_4"><b>4.</b> Inanimate creatures are addressed, to imply that the creature also, as it were, groans for deliverance from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God (<a onclick="return mV('Rom',8,'19-21');">Rom 8:19-21</a>) [POLANUS]. The completeness of the renewed blessedness of all parts of the land is implied.
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<br><br><b>derision</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',79,4);">Psa 79:4</a>).
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<p id="Eze36_5"><b>5. to cast it out for a prey</b>—that is, to take the land for a prey, its inhabitants being cast out. Or the land is compared to a prey cast forth to wild beasts. FAIRBAIRN needlessly alters the <i>Hebrew</i> pointing and translates, "that they may plunder its pasturage."
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<p id="Eze36_6"><b>6. the shame of the heathen</b>—namely, the shame with which the heathen cover you (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',123,3,4);">Psa 123:3-4</a>).
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<p id="Eze36_7"><b>7. lifted...mine hand</b>—in token of an oath (<a onclick="return mV('Eze',20,5);">Eze 20:5</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Gen',14,22);">Gen 14:22</a>).
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<br><br><b>they shall bear their shame</b>—a <i>perpetual</i> shame; whereas the "shame" which Israel bore from these heathen was only for a time.
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<p id="Eze36_8"><b>8. they are at hand to come</b>—that is the Israelites are soon about to return to their land. This proves that the primary reference of the prophecy is to the return from Babylon, which was "at hand," or comparatively near. But this only in part fulfilled the prediction, the full and final blessing in future, and the restoration from Babylon was an earnest of it.
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<p id="Eze36_10"><b>10. wastes builded</b>— <a onclick="return mV('Isa',58,12);">Isa 58:12</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',61,4);">61:4</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Amo',9,11,12,14);">Amo 9:11-12, 14</a>, where, as here (<a onclick="return mV('Eze',34,23,24);">Eze 34:23-24</a>, the names of David, Messiah's type, and Edom, Israel's foe, are introduced in connection with the coming restoration.
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<p id="Eze36_11"><b>11. do better...than at your beginnings</b>—as in the case of Job (<a onclick="return mV('Job',42,12);">Job 42:12</a>). Whereas the heathen nations fall irrevocably, Israel shall be more than restored; its last estate shall exceed even its first.
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<p id="Eze36_12"><b>12. to walk upon you</b>—O mountains of Israel (<a onclick="return mV('Eze',36,8);">Eze 36:8</a>)!
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<br><br><b>thee...thou</b>—change from <i>plural</i> to <i>singular:</i> O hill of Zion, singled out from the other mountains of Israel (<a onclick="return mV('Eze',34,26);">Eze 34:26</a>); or land.
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<br><br><b>thou shall no more...bereave them <i>of men</i></b>—Thou shalt no more provoke God to bereave them <i>of children</i> (so the ellipsis ought to be supplied, as Ezekiel probably alludes to <a onclick="return mV('Jer',15,7);">Jer 15:7</a>, "I will bereave them <i>of children</i>").
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<p id="Eze36_13"><b>13. Thou land devourest up men</b>—alluding to the words of the spies (<a onclick="return mV('Num',13,32);">Num 13:32</a>). The land personified is represented as doing that which was done in it. Like an unnatural mother it devoured, that is, it was the grave of its people; of the Canaanites, its former possessors, through mutual wars, and finally by the sword of Israel; and now, of the Jews, through internal and external ills; for example, wars, famine (to which <a onclick="return mV('Eze',36,30);">Eze 36:30</a>, "reproach of <i>famine</i> among the heathen," implies the allusion here is).
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<p id="Eze36_14"><b>14. bereave</b>—so the <i>Keri,</i> or <i>Hebrew Margin</i> reads, to correspond to "bereave" in <a onclick="return mV('Eze',36,13);">Eze 36:13</a>; but "cause to fall" or "stumble," in the <i>Hebrew</i> text or <i>Chetib,</i> being the more difficult reading, is the one least likely to come from a corrector; also, it forms a good transition to the next subject, namely, the moral <i>cause</i> of the people's calamities, namely, their <i>falls,</i> or <i>stumblings</i> through sin. The latter ceasing, the former also cease. So the same expression follows in <a onclick="return mV('Eze',36,15);">Eze 36:15</a>, "Neither shalt thou cause thy nations to <i>fall</i> any more."
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<p id="Eze36_17"><b>17. removed woman</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Lev',15,19);">Lev 15:19</a>, etc.).
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<p id="Eze36_18"><b>18, 19</b>. The reason for their removal was their sin, which God's holiness could not let pass unpunished; just as a woman's legal uncleanness was the reason for her being <i>separated</i> from the congregation.
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<p id="Eze36_20"><b>20. profaned my holy name, when they</b>—the heathen
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<br><br><b>said to them</b>—the Israelites.
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<br><br><b>These,</b> etc.—The Israelites gave a handle of reproach to the heathen against God, who would naturally say, These who take usury, oppress, commit adultery, etc., and who, in such an abject plight, are "gone forth" as exiles "out of His land," are specimens of what Jehovah can or will effect, for His people, and show what kind of a God this so-called holy, omnipotent, covenant-keeping God must be! (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',52,5);">Isa 52:5</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rom',2,24);">Rom 2:24</a>).
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<p id="Eze36_21"><b>21. I had pity for mine holy name</b>—that is, I felt pity for it; God's own name, so dishonored, was the primary object of His pitying concern; then His people, secondarily, through His concern for it [FAIRBAIRN].
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<p id="Eze36_22"><b>22. not...for your sakes</b>—that is, not for any merit in you; for, on the contrary, on your part, there is everything to call down continued severity (compare <a onclick="return mV('Deu',9,5,6);">Deu 9:5-6</a>). The sole and sure ground of hope was God's regard to "His own name," as the God of covenant grace (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',106,45);">Psa 106:45</a>), which He must vindicate from the dishonor brought on it by the Jews, before the heathen.
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<p id="Eze36_23"><b>23. sanctify</b>—vindicate and manifest as holy, in opposition to the heathen reproaches of it brought on by the Jews' sins and their punishment (see on JFB for <a href="./Comm/jfb/Eze/Eze036.html#Eze36_20">Eze 36:20</a>).
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<br><br><b>sanctified in you</b>—that is, in respect of you; I shall be regarded in their eyes as the Holy One, and righteous in My dealings towards you (<a onclick="return mV('Eze',20,41);">Eze 20:41</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Eze',28,22);">28:22</a>).
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<p id="Eze36_24"><b>24.</b> Fulfilled primarily in the restoration from Babylon; ultimately to be so in the restoration "from all countries."
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<p id="Eze36_25"><b>25.</b> The <i>external</i> restoration must be preceded by an <i>internal</i> one. The change in their condition must not be superficial, but must be based on a radical renewal of the heart. Then the heathen, understanding from the regenerated lives of God's people how holy God is, would perceive Israel's past troubles to have been only the necessary vindications of His righteousness. Thus God's name would be "sanctified" before the heathen, and God's people be prepared for outward blessings.
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<br><br><b>sprinkle...water</b>—phraseology taken from the law; namely, the water mixed with the ashes of a heifer sprinkled with a hyssop on the unclean (<a onclick="return mV('Num',19,'9-18');">Num 19:9-18</a>); the thing signified being the cleansing blood of Christ sprinkled on the conscience and heart (<a onclick="return mV('Hbr',9,13,14);">Hbr 9:13-14</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Hbr',10,22);">10:22</a>; compare <a onclick="return mV('Jer',33,8);">Jer 33:8</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Eph',5,26);">Eph 5:26</a>).
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<br><br><b>from all your idols</b>—Literal idolatry has ceased among the Jews ever since the captivity; so far, the prophecy has been already fulfilled; but "cleansing from <i>all</i> their idols," for example, covetousness, prejudices against Jesus of Nazareth, is yet future.
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<p id="Eze36_26"><b>26. new heart</b>—mind and will.
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<br><br><b>spirit</b>—motive and principle of action.
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<br><br><b>stony heart</b>—unimpressible in serious things; like the "stony ground" (<a onclick="return mV('Mat',13,5,20);">Mat 13:5, 20</a>), unfit for receiving the good seed so as to bring forth fruit.
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<br><br><b>heart of flesh</b>—not "carnal" in opposition to "spiritual"; but impressible and docile, fit for receiving the good seed. In <a onclick="return mV('Eze',18,31);">Eze 18:31</a> they are commanded, "<i>Make you</i> a new heart, and a new spirit." Here God says, "A new heart will <i>I give</i> you, and a new spirit will <i>I put</i> within you." Thus the responsibility of man, and the sovereign grace of God, are shown to be coexistent. Man cannot make himself a new heart unless God gives it (<a onclick="return mV('Phl',2,12,13);">Phl 2:12-13</a>).
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<p id="Eze36_27"><b>27. my spirit</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Eze',11,19);">Eze 11:19</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Jer',32,39);">Jer 32:39</a>). The partial reformation at the return from Babylon (<a onclick="return mV('Ezr',10,6);">Ezr 10:6</a>, etc. <a onclick="return mV('Neh',8,'1-');">Neh 8:1- 9:38</a> ) was an earnest of the full renewal hereafter under Messiah.
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<p id="Eze36_28"><b>28. ye...my people,...I...your God</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Eze',11,20);">Eze 11:20</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Jer',30,22);">Jer 30:22</a>).
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<p id="Eze36_29"><b>29. save...from all...uncleannesses</b>—the province of Jesus, according to the signification of His name (<a onclick="return mV('Mat',1,21);">Mat 1:21</a>). To be specially exercised in behalf of the Jews in the latter days (<a onclick="return mV('Rom',11,26);">Rom 11:26</a>).
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<br><br><b>call for...corn</b>—as a master "calls for" a servant; all the powers and productions of nature are the servants of Jehovah (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',105,16);">Psa 105:16</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Mat',8,8,9);">Mat 8:8-9</a>). Compare as to the subordination of all the intermediate agents to the Great First Cause, who will give "corn" and all good things to His people, <a onclick="return mV('Hsa',2,21,22);">Hsa 2:21-22</a>;<a onclick="return mV('Zec',8,12);">Zec 8:12</a>.
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<p id="Eze36_30"><b>30. no more reproach of famine among the heathen</b>—to which their taunt (<a onclick="return mV('Eze',36,13);">Eze 36:13</a>), "Thou land devourest up men," in part referred.
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<p id="Eze36_31"><b>31. remember your...evil ways</b>—with shame and loathing. The unexpected grace and love of God, manifested in Christ to Israel, shall melt the people into true repentance, which mere legal fear could not (<a onclick="return mV('Eze',16,61,63);">Eze 16:61, 63</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Psa',130,4);">Psa 130:4</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Zec',12,10);">Zec 12:10</a>; compare <a onclick="return mV('Jer',33,8,9);">Jer 33:8-9</a>).
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<p id="Eze36_34"><b>35. they shall say</b>—The heathen, who once made Israel's desolation a ground of reproach against the name of Jehovah Himself (<a onclick="return mV('Eze',36,20-21);">Eze 36:20-21</a>); but now He so vindicates its sanctity (<a onclick="return mV('Eze',36,22,23);">Eze 36:22-23</a>) that these same heathen are constrained to acknowledge Israel's more than renewed blessedness to be God's own work, and a ground for glorifying His name (<a onclick="return mV('Eze',36,36);">Eze 36:36</a>).
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<br><br><b>Eden</b>—as Tyre (the type of the world powers in general: so Assyria, a cedar "in the garden of God, Eden," <a onclick="return mV('Eze',31,8);">Eze 31:8-9</a>), in original advantages, had been compared to "Eden, the garden of God" (<a onclick="return mV('Eze',28,13);">Eze 28:13</a>), from which she had fallen irrecoverably; so Israel, once desolate, is to be as "the garden of Eden" (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',51,3);">Isa 51:3</a>), and is to be so unchangeably.
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<p id="Eze36_36"><b>36. Lord...spoken...do it</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Num',23,19);">Num 23:19</a>).
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<p id="Eze36_37"><b>37. I will yet for this be inquired of</b>—so as to grant it. On former occasions He had refused to be inquired of by Israel because the inquirers were not in a fit condition of mind to receive a blessing (<a onclick="return mV('Eze',14,3);">Eze 14:3</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Eze',14,3);">20:3</a>). But hereafter, as in the restoration from Babylon (<a onclick="return mV('Neh',8,'1-');">Neh 8:1 - 9:38</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Dan',9,'3-21', 23);">Dan 9:3-21, 23</a>), God will prepare His people's hearts (<a onclick="return mV('Eze',36,26);">Eze 36:26</a>) to pray aright for the blessings which He is about to give (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',102,'13-17');">Psa 102:13-17</a>, <a onclick="return mV('Psa',102,20);">20</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Zec',12,'10-14');">Zec 12:10-14</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Zec',13,1);">13:1</a>).
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<br><br><b>like a flock</b>—resuming the image (<a onclick="return mV('Eze',34,23);">Eze 34:23, 31</a>).
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<p id="Eze36_38"><b>38. As the holy flock</b>—the great flock of choice animals for sacrifice, brought up to Jerusalem at the three great yearly festivals, the passover, pentecost, and feast of the tabernacles.
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